Been there, done that, and soooo understand the dilemma. :O)

Place them in the veggie patch. That's what I did two weeks ago with Astilbes, Ariseama, Baptisia, Verbascums, etc. A month before that 20 small Buddleias went in but I took them out of the pots.

After breaking a shovel on the weekend digging the Dahlia tubers, and having a session with the chiropractor, yesterday I planted another 22 Buddleias in the holding bed pot and all. The later it gets, the more inclined I am to place the pot in and not disturb the roots. I nip the sides of the pots in a couple of places along the upper edge so water doesn't stand in them at the top. Hope you get what I'm saying here... I also break the bottom a bit more so the roots can venture out if they want. It's amazing how many of them will do this.

Been doing this for a few years and it works very well. When the ground freezes, mulch with shredded leaves and leave them be.

Best wishes. :O)

I agree with Tiffy. I've also had success wintering perennials in pots sunk in the garden.

I really like that idea of nipping the pots at the upper edge, Tiffy. Hopefully I can remember that for next year.

I had a plant sale this spring, and it was really easy to just pop the pots out of the ground, all eagerly growing.

I've had success with a couple methods of overwintering plants. Last fall I bought a lot of bargain plants at the local nursery in early November over Veterans weekend. I planted the cool season grasses and a couple misc. others right away, put some of the hardy perennials in the pot ghetto area, and sunk many of the perennials and warm-season grasses directly into the ground in a lasagne bed and a small veggie area.

Out of dozens of plants, everything overwintered successfuly except for some Scabiosa 'Pink myst', which I've lost over the winter before even when planted in the spring (and won't be buying again for that reason!).

We had lots of snow cover last winter, and that no doubt helped to insulate all the plants from temperature extremes and keep them moist.

Miscellaneous perennials and grasses sunk into a lasagne bed (that was mostly decomposed) -
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This is what the pot ghetto looked like most of the winter (north side of garage well heeled-in by leaves and surrounded by bags of leaves, etc.) -
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In March, I uncovered the plants, and they were all healthy and happy -
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I sure would tip those plants out of the pots before I planted them....eliminates a possibility of water sitting in the pot which is in the ground and rotting the roots.
And...if we are lucky there should be a good 6 weeks before the ground freezes to a 5 inch depth in zone 5.
Linda C

Linda,

"... eliminates a possibility of water sitting in the pot which is in the ground and rotting the roots."

That is the reason why I suggest to nip the edges of the top of the pots and break/cut the bottoms a bit more. When you do this the water won't stand in the pot. I do it with an old pair of pruners. Works well. :O)

Thanks! This seems like the best of both worlds: plant in the pot to avoid disturbing the roots (plus be able to pull out the plant easily in spring), and still get good drainage. Tiffy, if you just connect a couple of bottom holes will that do the trick? And slits at the top are all you need rather than trimming off the the top to ground level? These are all thin pots so this should be a snap. What a great idea...I'm so glad I asked.

Depends on the size of the pot. For small pots, I would get rid of the pot, it forms a cold barrier for the roots. The ground is still surprisingly warm at this time of year, and I think frost heave finds it's easier to heave out the whole pot than some dirt. Large pots should be ok.

Linnea,

Connecting a couple of bottom holes will be fine. In regards to the top, as long as the water can escape and not form a frozen puddle in the top section, then you are fine.

Just have a few more pots to go, mostly stems of shrubs and vines which rooted this year. :O)

gottagarden, by small pot do you mean quart sized? Most are gallons but I have a few quarts.

In the above picture, you can see in the foreground some fragrant Lady Tresses in quart-sized containers. I also overwintered Trillium and native Ginger in quart sized pots sunk in the ground. I didn't cut any of the pots, but they were buried in soil with good drainage. They were all fine.

i also bury all the pots in the fall that i haven't gotten around to ~~ i read in a book that if you *plant* them on a slight angle it helps with the *perched* water table; whatever that means! ~~ it was a complicated concept, so i just followed it & all my pots are good to go in the spring ~ phyl

After all this good info, I think I should go back to Lowes and buy those pink rock geraniums, originally $2.98 on sale at 75% off. There were four left in the tray the last time I was there......

Phyl, I like that idea about planting them at a slight angle. The plant sure isn't going to care for the winter (unless you planted them that way permanently hehe!) and that makes sense that water would mostly drain off. I hate the idea of cutting pots, because I reuse most of them for swaps, pottting up seedlings, to give plants away, etc.

Our ground doesn't tend to drain well in the spring for a bit - deep frost & lots of snow leads to our mud season where water sits within a few inches of or on the surface. This has created problems for me overwintering plants in pots in the past, so I now simply bury the pots in wood shaving which are freer draining than even the sandiest areas of our soil. I have had much better success with this than burying pots, regardless of pot size.

We have to assume the plants have been in pots for most of the summer? I would remove them altogether and heal the plants directly into the ground (with a loose mulch over the tops). What's the point of keeping them? If they're in fiber pots, then it's OK to plant them. Otherwise, it avoids the risk entirely of water getting into the pot and freezing/rotting. They won't be actively growing, so it's not like you're going to have to work hard next spring to pull them up. Up here, the ground doesn't dry out for a few months. It's extremely wet and soggy once the snow starts melting. And freeze/thaws aren't uncommon until at least May. A plastic pot isn't going to benefit the plant at all but in fact may harm it. I've had this happen more than once. (Don't forget to mark each plant so you can find it in the spring.)

I couldn't resist buying ten 2 gallon plants at 5/$10.

Nothings exotic...some Nepeta Walker's Low, Salvia Lyrata (I know it seeds all about), Penstemon Huskers Red and Monarda Petite Delight. It's not easy to find things that hopefully live up to their deer/rabbit resistant claims.

Come on...who could resist that?

Problem is I don't know where they're going to be placed permanently in beds since I don't know what "iffy looking" perennials are going to come back or not in spring.

I've got a few Lychnis coronaria in mailbox bed that someone buried in mulch while I wasn't here and the 1st year fuzzy rosettes were rotting when I got back. Leaves are pale tan after drying out and not looking well at all.

I don't know whether they're goners and I should just dig/toss them or give them a chance to bloom next year (2nd year) even with damaged basal rosettes.

I like the pot ghetto idea with bags of leaves all around for insulation. Don't have "garden" of any kind for holding them over until spring. Doing "interbay mulch" for lasagna treatment in all beds around existing perennials and to expand planting areas. Guess if I make lasagna areas deep enough I could sink pots in there and give added protection.

Going to pick up my first batch of Starbucks UCGs today. Just have to get the burlap and some more cardboard and I'm all ready.

Can't believe I'm this excited about getting "dirt" ready for next year...LOL.